It was when I first started GMing, which was admittedly not that long ago. I was trying to run the group through the WotC adventure “City of the Spider Queen.”

Now, this wasn’t the first time we had tried to get through this particular adventure, nor was it the last. Not all that far in we were sick of it again, myself especially. So we wandered back out of the Underdark, and I switched dimensions on them.

(Note, during this swapping of worlds, before they got to the other one, I also managed to spring a Wight Dragon on them, followed by a Gold Golem. I also managed to send them through a reality-warping series of hallways on their way. I realise now that I wasn’t so much bored with CotSQ as bored with standard fantasy tropes in general, and wanted to mix it up a bit.)

This new world had next to nothing written about it, and most of what was written happened after the group arrived there, but I had it all made in my head. I even made a map within a few weeks. I dubbed it Generica, since there was nothing specific or extraordinary about it.

But I was wrong. Looking back now, I see that in my desire to escape from standard fantasy, I had actually created a very different, very unique world. The portal to this world deposited them in a desert. As they crossed a dune, they came to an arabian-inspired city… of Dwarves.

The Elves were plainsmen, I believe. The Halflings, savage jungle-dwellers (if I remember correctly). I basically took every standard fantasy trope I could think of and turned it on its head.

The main plot was centered around dragons, and could have been quite good with a bit more work. We stopped playing that game before we got too far, though.

In the time since, whenever musing about where to set the next game, I’ve often gotten had a player suggest Generica. I always assumed it was in jest, and perhaps it is. But someday, maybe I should call their bluff, and return them to the land of Generica, where everything is most definitely not generic.